this is an ode to blackness. and to a few of my favorite films, writers, artists, entertainers, and activists + politicians that have inspired my beautiful black mind.
happy black history month ✊🏾
disclaimer: i don’t own any of the videos curated in this piece.
Poem:
Every Month Is Black History Month
I mean we like that!
A collective diaspora determining culture coming with creativity and excellence week after week.
Influencing sounds and movement that reach the entire globe.
We ubiquitous
We anointed
We gifted
We spiritual
Ancestors in spirit too.
Our blackness reigns in different realms.
Our shades gleam under the sun and glow under the moon.
Our hair like carefully crafted silhouettes presented perfectly just the way we want them.
Our blackness only knows beauty.
Our features crafted by a potter’s holy hands
Our voices cry, sing, roar, a joyful noise amidst the pain and struggle.
We rise above neglect, traumas, heartbreaks, and failures.
And we alchemize it into art, cuisine, rhythm, songs , championships, and of course love.
We are the culture. We are the original civilization. The catalyst to mankind.
And we are here to stay.
So may we create our destinies with no fear nor doubt. May we be what we are always meant to be.
Free.
Free from white fragility
from naysayers
Racists, agesits, agents of deceit
From your own internalized racism
Your own sense of self doubt.
Like bruh, who told you to hate yourself.
Who told you couldn’t?
Well i’m here to say you can
And will
and will
and will
and will
Till triumph is associated with your name
Till peace is upon your temple.
Till the promised land is beneath your feet.
Till we are all truly free.
I mean we like that - aren’t we?
We Malcom
We Martin
We Kwame Nkrumah
Maya angelou
Toni Morrison
Issa rae
Serena williams
Beyonceeeeeeeeee
LeBron James
Shirley Chilsom
August Wilson
Usain Bolt
Kobe
Stephen Curry
Barack Obama
Michelle Obama
Shaquille O’neal
Mike Tyson
Tupac
Lauryn Hill
Kendrick Lamar
J Cole
Langston Hughes
Muhammad Ali
Jesse owens
Marcus Garvey
Marvin Gaye
Spike Lee
Jimmy Hendrix
Denzel Washington
Ida B Wells
George Washington Carver
Oprah Winfrey
Hov
Kanye
Viola Davis
Kofi Anan
Afrika Bambata
KRS One
Nelson Mandela
Ruby Bridges
Phillis Weatley
Chadwick Boseman
Sidney Potier
Bill Russell
Michael Jordan
Gwendolyn Brooks
James Baldwin
Jamie Foxx
John Coltrane
Marvin Gay
Buddy Guy
Duke Ellington
Quiny Jones
Zora Neal Hurston
And you.
And me.
We got work to do tho.
We got dreams to fulfill.
People to save.
People to empower.
‘Cus our history is now. Our legacy is forever.